Two vintage black and white steam engine photos, October 1966.

Price for set:  $10.00         Size:  3 and 1/2 x 5″ each.

October 1966, she’s a beauty….

The CN Steam engine 6218 (4-8-4). She’s moving away from us, toward our left. Note the engineer (?) in the first photo, with his head out the window – he’s easy to miss, as he blends in a little. This steam locomotive was built in 1942 by the Montreal Locomotive Works, was retired in 1959, then rebuilt and restored in 1963 and used for rail fan trips before being finally retired in 1971, obtained by the town of Fort Erie, Ontario in 1973 and moved in 1974 to the Fort Erie Railway Museum. Restoration of the engine and caboose has been badly needed for some decades. The most recent article we found on the subject, “RFP to plan 6218 restoration”  is dated Feb. 22, 2017 and appears in the online magazine Heritage Rail Alliance. And for more photos (1966 through 2010) see  rrpictures.archives.net.

Acme Quality Paints, Inc.

That’s an Acme Paint sign in the background of both snapshots, but you can see it better in the shot on our right. Since these photos were found (at an antique store) on our last Detroit trip, and Acme Quality Paints started and had plants in Detroit (as well as other states) plus the fact that some of the photos in the railroad pictures link above were taken in October in Detroit, it’s a better guess than most that the photos’ location could have been Detroit. But maybe this post will jog some memories and someone can let us know, for sure.

Sources:  4-8-4. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4-8-4 (accessed October 1, 2017).

“RFP to plan 6218 restoration.” September 22, 2017. Heritage Rail Alliance (www.atrrm.org) Accessed October 1, 2017.

Pictures of CN 6218. http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/Locopicture.aspx?id=100419. (accessed September 30, 2017).

Thompson, Kenneth, “Acme Paints, 75, Is ‘Here to Stay,’ ” Detroit Free Press. March 15, 1959, Sunday, p. 14. (Newspapers.com)